(NOTE… from Atlanta’s point of view)

By Daniel Cox

Every week there’s a rush of information in the days leading up to gameday. Bloggers, TV analysts, reporters, fans … everyone has an opinion, and in the age of hyper-speed new media, everyone’s got a chance to share it.

But sometimes it’s tough to focus through all the noise.

Here we examine three storylines entering Week 3 that you’ll surely hear all about. We present the flipside, the ideas from inside the walls of the team headquarters, to suggest what the Atlanta Falcons are thinking of the popular headlines.

What they will say: The Saints are 18-3 in their last 21 games and 9-2 at the Superdome dating back to the beginning of 2009.

What we’re saying: Dating back to 2008, the Falcons have lost three consecutive games to the Saints. Under head coach Mike Smith Atlanta has never lost to an NFC South rival four games in a row. Studious and well-prepared, with two seasons of film to watch, the Falcons coaching staff will be ready for the Saints’ explosive offense and opportunistic defense. The last time out, Atlanta fell to New Orleans 26-23 in a game that saw the Falcons with an opportunity for the tie or the win in their final possession.

Read the rest of the story here.

By Pat Yasinskas

Even if you had Drew Brees‘ cellphone number, there’s no way you could reach him right now.

You wouldn’t even get a ring; you’d hear, “This mailbox is full.’’ It’s been that way for weeks now, and you can’t really blame the quarterback of the New Orleans Saints.

Contract talks? They can wait until after the season.

Dan Marino? He can wait, too.

Read the rest of the story here.

By Pat Yasinskas

NEW ORLEANS — The Saints are focused solely on their “Monday Night Football’’ game with the Atlanta Falcons right now. A victory will give them the NFC South title.

But fans and media have been getting ahead of the game and comparing the Saints to the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans’ quarterback Drew Brees to Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers. There’s also been a fair amount of debate about which of those quarterbacks should win the Most Valuable Player award

Read the rest of the story here.

By Pat Yasinskas

He’s a backup wide receiver on a losing team. But, at least statistically speaking, Tampa Bay’s Preston Parker has the best hands in the NFC South.

Want to see where the Saints are on the list click here.

The NFL announced its Players of the Month for Offense, Defense and Special teams. There wasn’t an NFC South player among them.

Drew Brees

Not surprising, really, since no NFC South player has been a Player of the Month this season. What is surprising is how the league, which usually goes out of its way to spread these kind of awards around, isn’t doing that with the NFC Offensive Player of the Month.

Aaron Rodgers won it. Good for him. He’s a great player and is having a tremendous season.

But here’s the catch. Rodgers also was the NFC Offensive Player of the Month for October – and September. Heck, he actually just became the first player since Player of the Month awards were started in 1986 to win an award in four straight months. Rodgers also won it in December of last season.

Read the rest of the story here.

By Pat Yasinskas

I’ve always said running back Michael Turner is the key to Atlanta’s offense.

I think the Atlanta Falcons still were trying to figure out exactly what they wanted to be offensively early in the season. They were trying to work in rookie receiver Julio Jones and they might have forced some things that weren’t there.

But the Falcons found more balance – and not coincidentally – more success in their offense of late. The passing game is working better, especially downfield. But Turner is a major part of the reason for that because defenses have to devote so much attention to his running.

That’s backed up by some numbers from ESPN Stats & Information.

Read the rest of Pat’s story here.

By Pat Yasinskas

NEW ORLEANS – After getting pushed around by St. Louis in Week 8, the New Orleans Saints did the only logical thing. They brought out the bats.

Yeah, the baseball bats.

For those who haven’t followed the Saints in recent years, the bats are significant. For those who have, you know the bats mean the Saints are swinging for something besides the fences.

“The whole philosophy behind a bat game is it’s going to be a physical, physical game,’’ New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees said. “You’re not going to look at the scoreboard. All you’re going to do is think about winning the physical battle, and if you can outhit the opponent, you win the game. We save these for special occasions. Typically, we don’t do it for a division opponent. You can say they’re all physical and important and all those things. But, maybe in light of where we are in the season and what happened a few weeks ago at their place, (coach Sean Payton) felt like it was appropriate.’’

Read the rest here.

By Pat Yasinskas

We’re not even officially at midseason yet, but there’s one race we can go ahead and call.

In the category of “Best NFC South free-agent signing,” we have a winner. It’s New Orleans’ Darren Sproles.

Yeah, Ray Edwards is fitting in pretty well with Atlanta, Michael Koenen’s doing a nice job in Tampa Bay and Ron Edwards would have been a really nice pickup for Carolina if he hadn’t suffered a season-ending injury in training camp. If we’re going to include a Carolina player in the honorable-mention slot on this one, let’s bend the rules a bit and go with tight end Greg Olsen, who wasn’t a free agent, but came in a trade with Chicago.

But none of those guys has come close to doing what Sproles has for the Saints. They’re all pretty much doing what they did in their other stops.

Read the rest of the story here.

By Pat Yasinskas

TAMPA, Fla. – It’s too early to say for sure. But there might come a day when historians look back to find the precise time the Tampa Bay Buccaneers turned the corner. Sunday might end up being that day.

A team that hasn’t been to the playoffs since the 2007 season and is only slightly removed from a horrid 3-13 2009 season, did what didn’t seem possible as recently as a week ago. The Bucs pulled off their biggest win since Raheem Morris took over as head coach in 2009.

The defense created four turnovers, Earnest Graham stepped in at tailback and rushed for 109 yards, and Josh Freeman threw for 303 yards and two touchdowns as the Buccaneers defeated the New Orleans Saints 26-20 at Raymond James Stadium.

Read the rest here.